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Abstract

We have studied a bistable transflective cholesteric light shutter. The shutter contains dual-frequency cholesteric liquid crystals that incorporate a photocurable monomer. The electro-optical properties and optical microscope images of the shutter were examined. Good correlations between the cholesteric textures and optical properties of the shutters were obtained. The shutter was switched into a wide-band homogeneous transmission mode by a low frequency voltage pulse, and into a selective reflection mode using a high-frequency voltage pulse. The concentration of the monomer apparently affected the electro-optical characteristics of the shutter.

Optical microscope images of the polymer-stabilized film (a) in the ANN state, (b) after 5kHz 80V SPV, (c) after 5kHz 120 V SPV, (d) after 100Hz 80V SPV and (e) after 100Hz 120 V SPV. The concentration of the monomer added in this experiment is approximately 1wt%.

(a) Spectral characteristics of the 1wt% polymer stabilized film in the ANN state and after the application of 5kHz 120 V SPV. (b) Spectral characteristics of the 1wt% polymer-stabilized film in the ANN state, after 100Hz 80 V SPV and after 100Hz 120 V SPV, respectively.

Optical microscope images of the polymer stabilized film (a) in the ANN state, (b) after 5kHz 80V SPV, (c) after 5kHz 120 V SPV, (d) after 100Hz 80V SPV and (e) after 100Hz 120 V SPV. The concentration of the monomer added in this experiment is about 3wt%.

(a) Spectral characteristics of the 3wt% polymer-stabilized film in the ANN state and after 5kHz 120 V SPV, respectively. (b) Spectral characteristics of the 3wt%-polymer stabilized film in the ANN state, after 100Hz 80 V SPV and after 100Hz 120 V SPV.